A process for forming elements for use in high temperature environments using the "false-melt" processing technique has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,645, issued to Crumpacker et al. This process is useful for forming high temperature resistant elements by pre-heating and hot pressing "green" parts to within the "false-melt" range and then allowing the part to cure. However, these "green" parts are very hard and stiff in their dry uncured state and thus may not easily conform to complex geometrical shapes.
It has been very desirable to have an improved "false-melt" process to form "green" parts that, when dried, are soft and pliable, thus formable into a pliable tape or film, or pliable sheets. It has been desirable to form pliable sheets so that the sheet can be easily pressed to mimic complex geometrical shapes in a mold prior to pre-heating and hot pressing, without cracking such "green" parts.
The present invention is directed to overcome one or more of the problems as set forth above.